A Basket of Poison Apples
by inspiredinfj
Summary: A series of Poison Apple drabbles under 1k.
1. Thunderstorm

Apple startled awake to the heavy thud of her own heart. Trying to place the reason for her anxiety, she peered around the room when the stark, white flash of lightning washed over her possessions.

She clamored and pulled her knees to her chest, then worried over a lock of her hair, twisting it between her fingers. She sat this way for a while, until the safety of her bed felt lonely and the space around her, cold.

Hesitantly, Apple placed her feet on the carpet, deterred twice by the booms of thunder that beat against her stained glass window, but she eventually got herself to walk across the room to the foot of her girlfriend's bed.

Raven, with her dark hair spilling over her pillow and her face sweetly resting, roused awake almost immediately. She looked up past heavy-lidded eyes and wiped the back of her hand across her face. "Apple?" Noticing the rain pattering against her window, a look of understanding came over her face. "Ah, come here," she told her, throwing back a corner of her sheets.

Apple crawled into the bed and settled against Raven, warm. "I'm sorry for waking you," she mumbled into Raven's nightdress.

Raven made soft hushing sounds before stroking the hair away from Apple's face with mindless fingers. Then she began to hum a melody, something so eerie that Apple wondered if it was a song Raven's mother used to sing to her as a child. Regardless, whenever Raven hummed it to herself around the dorm, Apple could see the tranquility that it brought her. It really was a beautiful, little melody, especially coming from Raven, she thought with a smile, and drifted to sleep in her girlfriend's arms.


	2. Hey, I'm with you, okay? Always

"How did you find this place?"

The question tickled Raven's skin, a breath against her cheek from the close proximity she shared with her girlfriend, stretched out beneath the stars. The autumn air was cool that night and, despite their coats and scarves, Apple insisted on nuzzling into Raven's side on the wool blanket. Not that Raven minded the closeness, at least not with Apple, the girl who regularly smelled like honey-almond, sugared and warm, and whose arms had become something of a second home to Raven.

As she admired the clear night's sky, Raven brushed her fingers over Apple's shoulder, an absentminded decision. "Actually, I looked for it for a long time," she replied offhandedly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it was no accident I found it. I spent weeks looking. I'd sneak out past curfew and search for the highest, most private rooftop I could find. Did it almost every night for the first few weeks of school."

Apple wrinkled her nose, undoubtedly appalled to hear Raven was already breaking school rules within the first day. "But why?"

"Well, stargazing was one of my favorite things to do as a child and I didn't want to give it up just because I lived somewhere else," she said with a shrug. She felt herself become wistful as she named the familiar constellations in her head. "That was one good thing about Queen Castle. Might've been isolated, but at least the stars looked beautiful."

There was a beat of silence in which Apple's arm tightened around Raven's waist. "It must have been lonely there," she fretted.

"Sure, sometimes."

"Do you think you'll go back? After graduation?"

"I-I don't know. I guess," Raven faltered, then curiously arched her brow at the princess. "It's kind of a ways off, Apple. I haven't really thought about it."

"But it isn't," she assured, propping herself up on one hand. "This is our last year."

"Yeah, I know, but the year just started."

"Yes and we only have two hundred and thirty-seven days left. That's two hundred and thirty-seven days until our graduation ceremony and then we say goodbye. There'll be no more princessology or castleteria food or date nights on the roof, not ever."

Raven shook her head, confused, and sat up. "Hold on, what's this about? I thought tonight was going pretty well. Did I say something?"

"No! Of course not. It's just…" Apple paused, soft blue eyes exploring Raven's troubled face before settling on the blanket. "A lot has changed since our time here. Don't get me wrong, I'm not ungrateful. It's because of those changes that we even get to be here, right now, together. It's just that, along with the newness comes the uncertainty. And I guess I'm not very good at accepting change the way you do because I-I'm kind of scared." She worried a pink lip between her teeth. "I hate not knowing where our relationship will be a year from now. It isn't _easy_ like it used to be. There aren't exactly any storybook tales on princesses and their not-so-evil queens."

"Hey," Raven called, softly stroking Apple's arm. "If there's one thing you never have to worry about, it's me. I'm with you, okay? Always."

Apple laughed, a miserable sound compared to the full, twinkling laugh that usually filled her mouth. "You can't know that."

"Maybe I don't have some book that has the words 'happily ever after' written behind our names, but I do have my true heart's feelings for you. Apple," she said, taking the blonde by her hands, "I love you. And I'll always be there for you in every way I can."

Apple stared, tears brimming her eyes. "You've never said that before."

"Yeah, well. It's tr— _Mph_!"

Raven grunted when Apple crashed into her with a kiss, sending them both sprawling on the blanket. It was moments before Apple was done speckling the coy Queen's face with chaste kisses and, if Raven wasn't blushing before from her confession, she was certain that she was now.

"I love you too, Raven," Apple declared, a grin spreading across her rosy cheeks.

"G-Great. Glad that's clear. Now, Apple?"

"Yes?"

"Could you, uh, please get off of me?"


	3. I'm in love with you and I'm terrified

Apple was resting her elbows on the balcony railing, a rose as plush as velvet crushed between her fingers, when Raven joined her side. The raven-haired princess gestured broadly with her hands, obviously still energized from the hectic events of the night and the Queen of Hearts' party going on a mere dozen paces behind them, but Apple could hardly hear the words coming from her mouth. She was much too focused on the thoughts that led her to the balcony in the first place.

"Apple? Is everything okay?" The words tore through the haze of Apple's thoughts like it was cotton, loud enough for her to stop and look, actually look, at Raven's vexed expression. "You haven't said anything the entire time I've been out here. Have you even been listening to me?" she questioned with a teasing pout.

Apple's gaze drifted over her face, features animated. She wanted to lie, say she was sorry and put on a royal smile. Instead, she found herself telling the truth, the real reason she was alone when all of her friends were celebrating.

"I think I'm in love with you," she said. Funny, the words didn't even sound like they came from her own mouth.

"E-Excuse me?" Raven sputtered, dumbstruck.

Apple could see the color drain from Raven's cheeks. What had she expected? For Raven to return her feelings? Of course not. Still, it hurt beyond measure to finally have her fears validated.

"I think I've known for a long time," Apple explained, though at this point she wasn't sure whether she was doing it more for Raven or herself. Her gaze fell back on the rose in her hand and she began to pluck its petals. "Maybe even since I first saw you. I just couldn't admit it to myself until tonight, when I was helplessly standing there as you became the ruthless Evil Queen that I told myself I wanted you to be. I was talking you down from killing Courtly when I realized everything I said, I said because I didn't want to lose you, the real you. Never had it been clearer to me that I love you — and it terrifies me."

Apple pulled the last petal from the rose. She went to retrieve another from the bunches coiled around the balcony's ironwork when Raven's hand grabbed hold of hers and pulled her, right into the young Queen's embrace, where she was met with a kiss laced with so much fervor that it made her head spin.

"I don't understand," Apple marveled breathlessly, leaning back.

"I realized something tonight too," Raven echoed, so close now that Apple could see every, last freckle in her fair eyes. "When I was standing there, teeming with more power than I knew what to do with, feeling like I could do anything and there would be no consequences, there was one girl who risked everything to save me. She was small and powerless and she was doing everything she could not to cry, but I heard the things she was saying to me and it was like everything snapped into perfect clarity. I thought, my god, I love her."


	4. Video Games and Broody Cuddles

A/N: Kind of a call-back to _Video Games and Candy Kisses_ , which I wrote almost a year and a half ago.

* * *

Apple stormed into her dorm with her thoughts in a whirlwind, muttering chemistry equations to herself. She dropped her textbooks at her desk, immediately spreading them over the surface and then riffling through drawers for a pencil and notecards. When she couldn't find the color-coded cards, she groaned aloud and tapped her chin thoughtfully. Suddenly, she bounced on her toes, remembering she left them on her nightstand when studying the night before.

Apple crossed the room to her nightstand, repeating equations all the way so not to forget them, so preoccupied that it took her a few beats to notice the room was too dark to even see the nightstand. Feeling her bedside lamp for the switch, she flicked the light on and was delighted to find a neat stack of pink and yellow notecards sitting there.

"There you are," she mumbled, a smile bright on her face, and turned around to someone on her bed.

Apple squeaked, the notecards popping out of her hold and raining down around her when squeezed too hard. She took a step back and then blinked once, twice at the strange sight in front of her.

"Raven?" Apple questioned the moping girl, who was currently sprawled on her stomach in a hoodie and plaid pajama bottoms. Only her violet eyes, dark and brooding, glanced up at Apple from a mound of down blankets.

It took Apple a moment to realize why Raven was there, sounds of _Wicked Wonderland_ , Raven's favorite video game series, playing quietly in the background. Apple looked to her plasma TV, her eyes following the long controller cord to Raven's hands, which hung limply over the bottom of Apple's bed.

"Raven, what are you _doing_? It's the middle of the day! You're supposed to be in class."

Raven continued to stare, only moving enough so that she could pull a second controller from her other side and slide it towards Apple.

Apple sputtered. "No, okay? No. You can't do this every time you're in a bad mood. Think of your grades, Raven!"

Raven's only response was to nudge the controller a little further.

Apple stood, her arms firmly crossed over her chest, until Raven started to make a familiar sound caught between a whine and a whimper. However she did it, it was darn adorable, and she knew it too.

"Raven," Apple chastised, stiff-lipped, only to be interrupted with a whine. "Raven," she tried again, weaker.

Raven blinked at her, innocently whining.

"Okay, fine!"

Apple settled onto the bed next to Raven and was immediately met with a head to her shoulder, Raven's way of saying thank you. Apple shook her head at her ability to be so easily convinced, but hey, that was what she got for having a girlfriend as cute as hers, she thought, brushing a quick kiss over Raven's forehead. The dark-haired girl whined softly in reply.


End file.
